The PCI-E 6.0 specification is set to be finalized in 2021

Posts: 2,402 +541

PCI-SIG has completed work on Revision 0.3 of the spec, which means PCI Express 6.0 is now on track to be finalized in 2021; assuming the group does not hit any major roadblocks before then. For the unaware, PCI-E 6.0 will bring data rates of 64 GT/s (twice as fast as PCI-E 5.0's 32 GT/s), while "maintaining backward compatibility" with all previous generations of the tech.

According to PCI-SIG, the two key new features of PCI-E 6.0 will be PAM-4 encoding (Pulse Amplitude Modulation with 4 levels), and "low-latency Forward Error Correction," which should help to boost "bandwidth efficiency." In other words, 6.0 is (predictably) set to be the fastest PCI-E specification to date.

Unfortunately, that might not mean much for the average PC user. As many of our readers are likely aware, the PCI-E 5.0 specification has yet to be implemented into any actual consumer motherboards, and even the PCI-E 4.0 spec isn't widely supported yet (though that's changing).

Regardless, PCI-SIG has encouraged its member companies to offer input on, or otherwise contribute to the PCI-E 6.0 specification moving forward.

Posts: 646 +463

Always nice for things to get better but for what products is this developed?
Is multi-GPU coming back? Is it for faster M.2 SSD? Faster LAN?
As said. pcie4 has barely come out and seems now there are few use cases and pcie5 is not available and now they're pushing pcie6 ?
What is driving this?
I rather have usb5 with the transfer rate to make an external graphics solution possible with no limitations.

Oooh wait. Make the pcie (bus) connector small and a cable so that we can place the GPU however we like and where ever we like (eGPU). Think of the possibilities of new designs of computer cases. Not forced to have the GPU fixed like a shark fin on the mBoard. And current x16 flex raiser cables are very troublesome to use and hinders airflow.

And the ITX standard could get even smaller and support multi-GPU
And the GPUs could be placed in a way for max cooling without blowing hot air on eachother and or the cpu/mboard

Posts: 12,326 +5,705

I would like to bring back riser cards. This time give the riser its own chipset. This would give the consumer a choice of slot placement.

I'm sick of waiting for PCIe x4 availability in motherboards. I shouldn't have to purchase ATX or use the second x16 in mATX to use a dedicated GPU and x4 PCIe SSD. The M.2 slots make it easier to manage.

We should be able to buy a riser that matches the configuration of peripherals we are using. Not be restricted to some cookie cutter default design.